Two more Obamacare co-ops fail: Tennessee and Kentucky both announce closures

posted at 12:41 pm on October 15, 2015 by Kristina Ribali

Approximately 27,000 Tennesseans who had coverage through the Tennessee Community Health Alliance will be receiving cancelation notices soon. Just yesterday, the CHA announced that it had entered a voluntary state-approved runoff and will no longer offer insurance plans in 2016. This decision comes just weeks away from the next Obamacare Open Enrollment period beginning on November 1, 2015. Policyholders who continue to pay their premiums will keep their coverage through December 31, 2015, but will be forced to choose a new plan from the four remaining carriers participating in the state’s Exchange.

“This was not a decision that the Department took lightly, but it was the right decision,” TDCI Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak said. “With thousands of Tennesseans’ coverage hanging in the balance, CHA’s financial success could not be guaranteed. Ultimately, the risk of CHA’s potential failure in 2016 was too great and would have caused substantial detrimental effects on the market as a whole if it were to collapse.”

This latest announcement from Tennessee comes just days after Kentucky Health Cooperative Inc., the largest insurance provider on Kynect, the state’s ObamaCare exchange, announced it too is going out of business.

According to The Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky Health Cooperative has about 51,000 members in all 120 Kentucky counties – about 75 percent of those insured on Kynect – all of whom will have to find new insurance in 2016.

The co-op lost $50 million last year, partly because over 20,000 more people had purchased the insurance than originally estimated. Glenn Jennings, Kentucky Health Cooperative’s interim CEO, told the Herald-Leader that further financial woes came because many of their new members had not previously had health insurance, leading to “a lot of people with pent up medical needs.” Then, said Jennings, “when they suddenly had health insurance…they began using their benefits.”

Jennings said that they had slowed their losses to $4 million in the first half of 2015, but were counting on substantial federal loans to continue operations. Instead, the feds announced they would only provide 12.6 percent of the funds requested by insurers through the assistance program. Kentucky’s insurers were hoping to get a total of $77 million in loans, but only received $9.7 million.

Only 17 of the original 23 co-ops are still providing coverage, despite the federal government doling out a reported $2.4 billion in loans through an assistance program designed to help start Obamacare insurance cooperatives around the country. As of December 2014, 21 of the 23 were still losing money.

The 78,000+ enrollees in these two states who are now being notified that they’re losing their plans will likely find little comfort in the words of former HHS Secretary Sebelius, who recently claimed Obamacare keeps people from being “locked out, priced out, or dumped out,” of their plans. For these folks, their cancelation notices say otherwise.

This perfectly illustrates why we need a single-payer European style health care system. Under single-payer, there’d be no need for co-ops. ALL hospitals would be available to provide free health care to ALL people.

If it can work for veteran hospitals it can work for all citizens. Americans have earned the right to receive the same quality of medical care we provide to our military veterans.

The co-op lost $50 million last year, partly because over 20,000 more people had purchased the insurance than originally estimated.

The ACA was pitched as a the vehicle for getting people to the healthcare nets. The government demanded you get healthcare or you’d be fined at tax time. They still crow at the numbers that were finally insured. But … we’re insuring too many people now?

This perfectly illustrates why we need a single-payer European style HEALTH CARE system. Under single-payer, there’d be no need for co-ops. ALL hospitals would be available to provide free health care to ALL people.

If it can work for veteran hospitals it can work for all citizens. Americans have EARNED the right to receive the same quality of medical care we provide to our military veterans.

Frank Lib on October 15, 2015 at 12:47 PM

I know that you’re trolling, but please allow me to use your satire to post this:

Three in four NHS hospitals are unsafe, official watchdogs warned last night.

In an alarming report, they said casualty cases had been left in makeshift huts outside A&E. Other patients were given the wrong drugs or illegally sedated.

The Care Quality Commission also warned of a culture of bullying and blame, with staff scared to raise concerns or admit blunders.

…

The report came on the day that an NHS whistleblower was named by his shameless bosses. The professor had revealed that dozens of patients were needlessly put through the agony of chemotherapy.

The most comprehensive NHS assessment ever, the CQC’s 120-page report covers 150 hospitals. A shocking 74 per cent were graded either ‘inadequate’ or requiring ‘improvement’ in terms of patient safety.

The report’s authors noted desperate shortages of nurses and expressed their surprise and ‘intense concern’ at the low standards of care on some wards.

Responding to the findings, Janet Davies of the Royal COLLEGE of NURSING said: ‘The quality of care is too often poor, and in some cases unsafe, and this requires urgent attention.

…

The report is further evidence that the NHS is struggling to care for an ageing population on a restricted budget. Last week it emerged that hospitals went £1 billion into the red in the first three months of this year and waiting times are rising sharply.

The ACA was pitched as a the vehicle for getting people to the healthcare nets.

hawkdriver on October 15, 2015 at 12:50 PM

The leftists worked together to hide the disastrous economics of Obamacare. Many of us knew that Obamacare was going to be so incredibly expensive that the cost of the plans were going to be very high. But these leftist raised money to start these co-ops which sold plans BELOW cost. Also, the insurance companies deliberately sold the plans below cost because they knew the federal government had a bail-out program for them when they lost money.

This had the effect of making Obamacare seem cheaper than it really was – which had the effect of selling more Obamacare than they otherwise would have sold – which had the effect of hiding the fact that the economics aren’t sustainable.

Kentucky’s very own Sen McConnell promised to “rip Obamacare out root & branch” and, sadly, Kentuckians believed him. I hope the good citizens of Kentucky are ready to join me in telling Mitch where he can stick his root & branch.

Kentucky’s very own Sen McConnell promised to “rip Obamacare out root & branch” and, sadly, Kentuckians believed him. I hope the good citizens of Kentucky are ready to join me in telling Mitch where he can stick his root & branch.

Mr. Michael Moore showed us safe and quality care in Cuban hospitals. Hopefully, Hillary or Bernie will WINthe WH in 2016 and all Americans can finally receive care equal to the Cubans.

Frank Lib on October 15, 2015 at 1:03 PM

Tru dat, but I hope that you and I, at least, get to go to the Potemkin hospital visited by Mr Moore and not the ones where Cubans, especially Afro-Cubans, have to seek treatment…amidst insects and rats, bring their own food, medicine, toilet paper, etc, and hope that the staff hasn’t fled to Miami.

Last Tuesday the Health Secretary told the Conservative Party conference that he wanted ‘to end the scandal of 11,000 excess deaths each year because of what is known as the “weekend effect” in hospitals’.

Patients who fall ill at weekends often have to wait longer for crucial tests, while many wards are not as well staffed as during ‘office hours’.

This perfectly illustrates why we need a single-payer European style health care system. Under single-payer, there’d be no need for co-ops. ALL hospitals would be available to provide free health care to ALL people.

If it can work for veteran hospitals it can work for all citizens. Americans have earned the right to receive the same quality of medical care we provide to our military veterans.

Frank Lib on October 15, 2015 at 12:47 PM

Unbelievable!

1. The VA health system has not worked for our veterans, as anyone who has been paying attention knows.

2. Interesting you said “free health care to ALL people“, you did not provide a qualifier like “ALL citizens“.
Of course there is a built in magnet for even more illegal immigration, and not just from south of the border.
See Germany, Scandinavia.

The government can NEVER provide a good level of medical care / access to medial care at a reasonable price. Governments are just not well ‘designed’ for that type of thing (the incentives are all wrong).

These vile, power-hungry, ideology-driven people will force us all into medicaid / VA style heathcare. It is going to be awful! And they’ll never let us go back. (but, don’t forget that the politicians will always have access to all the high level care they want or need)

Oh, sure, people will complain, and hearings will be held, and nothing will change, ever.

There should be a special place in hell for the people who forced this on us!

This perfectly illustrates why we need a single-payer European style health care system. Under single-payer, there’d be no need for co-ops. ALL hospitals would be available to provide free health care to ALL people.

If it can work for veteran hospitals it can work for all citizens. Americans have earned the right to receive the same quality of medical care we provide to our military veterans.

Frank Lib on October 15, 2015 at 12:47 PM

Frank, I think you are really on to something here. Convert Obamacare to VA style care. It works by “losing” 25% of the population through “administrative methods”. It’ll be just like the unemployment figures where 10 million workers has simply vanished in the last six years.

Think how this strategy can be extended! We can open up our borders to any and all and yet the U.S. population will decrease to only 200 million! Per capita spending per U.S. student will go through the roof. We’ll look like the best academic financed country in the world! Extend this even further to Social Security, with only 10 million seniors, imagine what the annual S.S. stipend would be!

Why, I bet with just a little more creative effort, the remaining existing population could all be finagled into that magical 1%. Think of the new income tax possibilities! Bernie could have every program he ever dreamed of and still have a budget surplus.

But-but- Kentucky was hailed as Obamacare succeeding in a red state and showed how dumb those reactionary conservatives were!

HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?!?!?!?!?!!!1111oneoneone~

deepelemblues on October 15, 2015 at 12:51 PM

According to the Lexington Herald paper we here in Kentucky are still a smashing success story. By having the largest health insurance provider go out of business that has opened up the market for dozens of other Companies to come in and compete. Brilliant! according to the papers editors.

This perfectly illustrates why we need a single-payer European style health care system. Under single-payer, there’d be no need for co-ops. ALL hospitals would be available to provide free health care to ALL people.

If it can work for veteran hospitals it can work for all citizens. Americans have earned the right to receive the same quality of medical care we provide to our military veterans.

Frank Lib on October 15, 2015 at 12:47 PM

I needed a laugh, thanks!

But it makes sense from the point of a marxist population control. Can’t do it just by abortions.

1. The VA health system has not worked for our veterans, as anyone who has been paying attention knows.

2. Interesting you said “free health care to ALL people“, you did not provide a qualifier like “ALL citizens“. Of course there is a built in magnet for even more illegal immigration, and not just from south of the border. See Germany, Scandinavia.

It seem hardly with noting but unless you provide the insurance companies cover (guaranteed governmental reimbursement payments on providing the service at forced reduced rates) we will continue to see all the markets run to one or two options.

In fact Obamacare in the end will result in 2 or 3 national insurance programs – that will be it. Anthem/Wellpoint, UHC and one other one. Then with everyone in one of the three programs, the feds will begin to ration care by how big the subsidy is to each insurer.

You may hate the insurers, but ObamaCare in the end will create three mega health insurance companies just facilitating a defacto single payer system that treats an every smaller percentage of the need for care.

The ACA was pitched as a the vehicle for getting people to the healthcare nets. The government demanded you get healthcare or you’d be fined at tax time. They still crow at the numbers that were finally insured. But … we’re insuring too many people now?

(looks up)

MADNESS

hawkdriver on October 15, 2015 at 12:50 PM

Back in the seventies, during gas rationing, IIRC some states raised their gas taxes because people weren’t buying enough to keep the cash flow coming.

My own water company a couple of years ago did such a good job making us conserve water that they “had to” raise the rates to recoup their costs (or keep the pseudo-profit level steady, whichever).

FTR, the lengthy gas shortage was caused by the government not allowing prices to float during the initial stages, but imposing controls.

By – The Washington Times – Monday, May 15, 2006
Proposals to control gasoline prices and tax producers’ windfall profits were popular ideas that were tried — without much success — during the oil shocks of the 1970s and 1980s.

The era of price controls is most remembered for long lines at gas stations. The controls were put in place by the Nixon and Ford administrations in reaction to a jump in fuel prices caused by cuts in production by the newly formed international oil cartel, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Back then, “price controls turned a minor adjustment into a major shortage,” said Thomas Sowell, author of “Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy.”

Mr. Sowell says that although the best response would have been to let prices rise, giving oil companies an incentive to produce more and consumers an incentive to conserve, “this basic level of economics is seldom understood by the public, which often demands ‘political’ solutions that turn out to make matters worse.”

The public — as it does today — wanted low prices. But the artificially depressed pump prices imposed during the oil crisis of 1973 — which stayed in place in various iterations through 1980 — brought about lines at gas stations and an artificial shortage of gas, he said.

The price controls resulted in a fuel-rationing system that made available about 5 percent less oil than was consumed before the controls.
…

As Ronaldus Magnus said: “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

Kentucky’s very own Sen McConnell promised to “rip Obamacare out root & branch” and, sadly, Kentuckians believed him. I hope the good citizens of Kentucky are ready to join me in telling Mitch where he can stick his root & branch.

NixTyranny on October 15, 2015 at 1:04 PM

“If you like your Senator you can keep your Senator.”
If you don’t like him, you can’t ever get rid of him.

The infuriating thing is not so much that the GOP didn’t kill Obamacare — that was always going to be a substantial problem — it’s that they didn’t even TRY.

Frank, I think you are really on to something here. Convert Obamacare to VA style care. It works by “losing” 25% of the population through “administrative methods”. It’ll be just like the unemployment figures where 10 million workers has simply vanished in the last six years.

Think how this strategy can be extended! We can open up our borders to any and all and yet the U.S. population will decrease to only 200 million! Per capita spending per U.S. student will go through the roof. We’ll look like the best academic financed country in the world! Extend this even further to Social Security, with only 10 million seniors, imagine what the annual S.S. stipend would be!

Why, I bet with just a little more creative effort, the remaining existing population could all be finagled into that magical 1%. Think of the new income tax possibilities! Bernie could have every program he ever dreamed of and still have a budget surplus.